Dannijohttp://www.adweek.com/taxonomy/term/12783/all
enRetailers Are Increasingly Using Real People’s Social Picshttp://www.adweek.com/news/advertising-branding/retailers-are-increasingly-using-real-people-s-social-pics-152445
Christopher Heine<p>
E-commerce players have long relied on willowy models and high-end studios for their product photos, taking a page from glossy print catalogs.</p>
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But e-retailers are increasingly switching out those slick product pics for snapshots of regular folks endorsing brands on Instagram, Facebook, Twitter and Pinterest. The move allows marketers to create a vibe that&rsquo;s more Main Street than SoHo.</p>
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<img alt="" src="/files/tt-social-retailers-01-2013.jpg" style="width: 300px; height: 803px; float: right; margin-left: 10px; margin-right: 10px;" /> &ldquo;Instead of someone who is 5-feet 11-inches and perfect, it&rsquo;s somebody who looks more like you,&rdquo; noted Liz Eswein, co-founder of social marketing startup <a href="http://themobilemedialab.com" target="_blank">The Mobile Media Lab</a>.</p>
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Urban Outfitters, Rebecca Minkoff, Under Armour, <a href="http://Beauty.com" target="_blank">Beauty.com</a> and <a href="http://Dessy.com" target="_blank">Dessy.com</a> are beta-testing a platform from <a href="http://www.curalate.com/‎" target="_blank">Curalate</a> called Fanreel, which helps brands manage hashtagged photos on social channels and post them to their e-commerce properties (consumers must sign off on copyrighted material). After selecting a user-generated photo, brands can also link the image&mdash;appearing on, say, Instagram&mdash;to their e-commerce product pages.</p>
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In the last few weeks, Dessy.com has seen an engagement rate of 30 percent for the Web gallery&mdash;stacked with more than 50 bridal events&mdash;that it has dedicated to the user-generated content (UGC).</p>
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In the coming weeks, Urban Outfitters plans to take it up a notch. &ldquo;We&rsquo;ll put the photos on our product pages,&rdquo; said Moira Gregonis, senior marketing manager at Urban Outfitters. &ldquo;Social-generated images are creeping up on all of our marketing channels. That&rsquo;s where our customers are.&rdquo;</p>
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Fanreel also offers analytics that intrigue Gregonis, whose brand counts 912,000 Instagram followers. &ldquo;With all we are doing on Instagram, we sometimes wonder what we&rsquo;re getting back,&rdquo; she explained. &ldquo;For the first time, we can collect metrics that show people hashtagging photos of this product or that product.&rdquo;</p>
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Other fashion retailers, such as NastyGal and <a href="http://dannijo.com/" target="_blank">Dannijo</a>, are adorning their sites with consumer-snapped photos while utilizing Olapic&rsquo;s software.</p>
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&ldquo;The user-generated content we pull [with the software] increases conversion rates,&rdquo; said Mary Mentz, e-commerce strategist for Dannijo. &ldquo;Our customers are six times more likely to purchase with [the social pictures] on our product pages.&rdquo;</p>
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It&rsquo;s no coincidence that each of the aforementioned players caters to social-addicted teens and twentysomethings. But social images may not be just for brands focusing on young demos.</p>
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For instance, Mini Cooper is redesigning its site, which will be lovingly bedecked with social-generated photos, with an assist from digital firms Beam Interactive and Widen, which specialize in storing UGC.</p>
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&ldquo;It&rsquo;s great to have real-life photos,&rdquo; said Michael Gilday, Beam&rsquo;s multimedia lead for <a href="/node/152299">Mini Cooper</a>. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s like a gold mine.&rdquo;</p>
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But even with early results showing big promise, whether social images are a sales bonanza for batches of e-commerce players probably remains to be seen.</p>
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&ldquo;I was skeptical at first,&rdquo; said Alan Dessy, CEO of Dessy.com. &ldquo;But it&rsquo;s good content that lets customers see our products in their future.&rdquo;</p>
Advertising & BrandingTechnologyDannijoe-commercee-retailersFacebookjFanreelInstagramMagazine ContentMini CooperRebecca MinkoffsocialThe Mobile Media LabTwitterUnder ArmourUrban OutfittersMon, 16 Sep 2013 02:09:49 +0000152445 at http://www.adweek.comPolyvore Launches Designer Collectivehttp://www.adweek.com/news/technology/polyvore-launches-designer-collective-146883
Emma Bazilian<p>
Whether it&rsquo;s conquering social media, e-commerce or online advertising, up-and-coming fashion designers often have a tough time establishing an Internet presence. Starting this week, social style platform Polyvore&mdash;currently boasting more than 20 million monthly users&mdash;will be making that process a whole lot easier for a select group of indie brands with the official launch of its Designer Collective program.</p>
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Polyvore selected four small brands&mdash;accessories designer <a href="http://www.alejandroingelmo.com/splash" target="_blank">Alejandro Ingelmo</a>, jewelry line <a href="http://dannijo.com" target="_blank">Dannijo</a>, footwear collection <a href="http://madisonharding.com/" target="_blank">Madison Harding</a> and accessories designer <a href="http://www.meredithwendell.com/" target="_blank">Meredith Wendell</a>&mdash;to take part in its inaugural Designer Collective series last June. The Polyvore team mentored the designers, taught them how to use the site&rsquo;s tools (like &ldquo;clipping&rdquo; products for members to use on their collage boards), helped them develop e-commerce platforms and connected them with the site&rsquo;s most influential members. The designers will also be piloting Polyvore&rsquo;s newest native ad programs, and the site is launching contests in which users will be asked to create fashion boards around the designers&rsquo; items.</p>
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Since starting the program, the designers&rsquo; exposure on Polyvore has increased by an average of 4000 percent, and Polyvore has become the No. 1 referral site for all four designers (half of Ingelmo&rsquo;s traffic comes through Polyvore, according to Polyvore CEO Jess Lee). Two of the brands, Madison Harding and Meredith Wendell, have begun offering e-commerce for the first time. They&#39;re also collaborating with Polyvore bloggers to design special-edition products for retail; the latter, a handbag, has already been picked up by Bloomingdale&#39;s stores.</p>
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&ldquo;It is really hard to make it in fashion, and we want to make it easier and more democratic and offer independent designers access to larger audiences,&rdquo; explained Lee, who described the site as &ldquo;a stepping-stone for budding fashion designers, stylists, bloggers&mdash;a place where anyone could be discovered.&rdquo;</p>
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Lee hopes the initiative will expand in the coming year, making Polyvore an incubator for rising fashion stars. &ldquo;We&rsquo;d love to continue to grow and build the program and continue to work with independent designers,&rdquo; she said. &ldquo;We believe that Polyvore is a great place to raise brand awareness.&rdquo;</p>
TechnologyAlejandro IngelmoDannijoFashionFashion BloggingJess LeeMadison HardingMeredith WendellPolyvoreRetailWed, 30 Jan 2013 17:18:58 +0000146883 at http://www.adweek.com